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payitforward wrote:Miserable performance, but this...is by no means true.leswizards wrote:The Nets are just as young as the Wizards (maybe younger)....
Porter, Claxton, Mann, Wilson, Williams, Martin, Etienne are all in their mid-20s. Sharpe & Liddell are 24. Only Clowney, Demin, & Powell (69 minutes combined) are Wizards-young. & Clowney, like Bilal, is in his 3d year.
leswizards wrote:tontoz wrote:leswizards wrote:I’ve had enough of this.
Hopefully, I won’t be back for a year or so. At that point, if there is some reason for me to eat crow, I’ll do so.
However, the odds are all the first rounders of this front office will still be awful nba players.
So do you think that Kyshawn and Sarr are still awful NBA players?
You made this post two months ago and it's already aged like milk.
Actually I do. Both of their shooting has improved, but Kyshawn’s turnovers and fouls have shot way up. Both players are awful interior defenders which opposing teams blow by with ease. Sarr is a way below average center, barely passable as a backup center.
tontoz wrote:leswizards wrote:tontoz wrote:
So do you think that Kyshawn and Sarr are still awful NBA players?
You made this post two months ago and it's already aged like milk.
Actually I do. Both of their shooting has improved, but Kyshawn’s turnovers and fouls have shot way up. Both players are awful interior defenders which opposing teams blow by with ease. Sarr is a way below average center, barely passable as a backup center.
So you are just clueless. Glad to get confirmation of that.
Nobody that actually watches the games and has a clue about basketball would share your opinion. Both Sarr and Kyshawn are better than average defenders. Saying teams blow by them with ease is just something you made up to pretend you are making sense.
leswizards wrote:
The wizards have a historically high drtg. It is so high because opposing teams can score in the interior any time they so desire. Kyshawn who many might believe had a good game last night, was -15 because of turnovers, fouls and his inability to stop opposing teams power forwards or bigger sfs.
tontoz wrote:leswizards wrote:
The wizards have a historically high drtg. It is so high because opposing teams can score in the interior any time they so desire. Kyshawn who many might believe had a good game last night, was -15 because of turnovers, fouls and his inability to stop opposing teams power forwards or bigger sfs.
Exactly. You don't watch the games you are just looking at stats and making stuff up. Saying that they are getting blown buy is just nonsense.
Sarr gets bullied on occasion but rarely gets blown by. He has to cover for the mistakes made by other guys.
leswizards wrote:tontoz wrote:leswizards wrote:
The wizards have a historically high drtg. It is so high because opposing teams can score in the interior any time they so desire. Kyshawn who many might believe had a good game last night, was -15 because of turnovers, fouls and his inability to stop opposing teams power forwards or bigger sfs.
Exactly. You don't watch the games you are just looking at stats and making stuff up. Saying that they are getting blown buy is just nonsense.
Sarr gets bullied on occasion but rarely gets blown by. He has to cover for the mistakes made by other guys.
Lol. Why do you think Sarr has to defend so many shots? Because players like Kyshawn are awful defenders.
And, I watched the game last night, and saw numerous forwards blow by Kyshawn like he wasn’t even there.
tontoz wrote:leswizards wrote:tontoz wrote:
Exactly. You don't watch the games you are just looking at stats and making stuff up. Saying that they are getting blown buy is just nonsense.
Sarr gets bullied on occasion but rarely gets blown by. He has to cover for the mistakes made by other guys.
Lol. Why do you think Sarr has to defend so many shots? Because players like Kyshawn are awful defenders.
And, I watched the game last night, and saw numerous forwards blow by Kyshawn like he wasn’t even there.
Since you watch the games it won't be a problem for you to post some clips of Sarr and Keyshawn getting blown by. I won't hold my breath waiting on that.
Any comment on Sarr holding players 11% below their expected percentage? Didn't think so.
leswizards wrote:Sarr and George are not soley responsible for the following, but they share more than enough of the blame:
The nets 5 front court players shot 16 for 21 on 2pa; shot 30 free throws; and to add insult to injury shot 9 for 20 on 3PA.
tontoz wrote:leswizards wrote:Sarr and George are not soley responsible for the following, but they share more than enough of the blame:
The nets 5 front court players shot 16 for 21 on 2pa; shot 30 free throws; and to add insult to injury shot 9 for 20 on 3PA.
How is an "awful interior defender" like Sarr holding players 11% below their expected average?
*Crickets*
leswizards wrote:tontoz wrote:leswizards wrote:Sarr and George are not soley responsible for the following, but they share more than enough of the blame:
The nets 5 front court players shot 16 for 21 on 2pa; shot 30 free throws; and to add insult to injury shot 9 for 20 on 3PA.
How is an "awful interior defender" like Sarr holding players 11% below their expected average?
*Crickets*
11% of 146 is 16. George is committing an extra 1.8 fouls a game. 1.8 times 12 is about 22. George is probably fouling them.
tontoz wrote:leswizards wrote:tontoz wrote:
How is an "awful interior defender" like Sarr holding players 11% below their expected average?
*Crickets*
11% of 146 is 16. George is committing an extra 1.8 fouls a game. 1.8 times 12 is about 22. George is probably fouling them.
The reason Kyshawn fouls a lot is because he is aggressive on defense trying to stop guys, not because people are blowing past him. If you actually watched the games you would know that.
leswizards wrote:tontoz wrote:leswizards wrote:
11% of 146 is 16. George is committing an extra 1.8 fouls a game. 1.8 times 12 is about 22. George is probably fouling them.
The reason Kyshawn fouls a lot is because he is aggressive on defense trying to stop guys, not because people are blowing past him. If you actually watched the games you would know that.
16 for 21 with 30 free throws seems like someone is getting blown by.
WASHINGTON — The Washington Wizards have given young players such as Bilal Coulibaly, Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George and Bub Carrington incredible gifts: the gifts of playing time and heavy responsibility early in their careers. If those youngsters had started their NBA tenures with contending teams, they would not have amassed the minutes and usage they did as rookies and continue to compile now.
The Wizards heralded all that playing time as a triumph, celebrating how Carrington led all rookies who played at least 10 games last season in minutes per game. Sarr finished second, and George placed fifth. That experience, team officials said, would pay dividends, and it certainly has helped propel Sarr and George to undeniable individual improvement so far this season.
But are the team’s young players learning how to win?
That is a fair question, especially after what happened Sunday night, when the Wizards hosted the Brooklyn Nets at Capital One Arena. The teams entered the game with identical 1-11 records, but only one of those clubs looked competent. Washington struggled on defense and lost to Brooklyn, 129-106. The Wizards did not put up the fight or the effort that they expected from themselves. They allowed the Nets to make 53 percent of their shots from the field and feast on frequent backdoor cuts.
“We buckled to the adversity,” coach Brian Keefe said. “We fouled when we shouldn’t. We didn’t dig in when they made certain runs. This group has never done that. That was disappointing on all of our end. We have to own that. But that was the thing that was bothering me the most, is that after the initial start of the game, which I thought we came out with a necessary mindset and attitude, once we got hit, we didn’t respond well.”
It was a bad enough performance that, after Keefe spoke to the team following the final buzzer, the Wizards held a players-only meeting in their locker room.
“We needed that talk, I think,” Coulibaly said afterward. “The guys just stepped up, the vets, the guys that have been used to winning. That’s what we’re trying to do here in the next year. So they had to talk to us, and they did a great job about this and everybody was listening.”
Washington has lost 11 consecutive games, including to upper-tier teams such as the Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons and Houston Rockets.
There have been glimpses of strong play along the way: an intense road victory over the Dallas Mavericks in their second regular-season game; an overtime loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in late October; and a narrow overtime loss last week to the shorthanded Pistons.
But the worst moments have outnumbered the strong ones. The Wizards now rank 28th in offensive efficiency, 29th in defensive efficiency and last in net rating. They hold the league’s worst per-game point differential, getting outscored by 16.7 points per game, and are tied with the Indiana Pacers for the league’s worst record at 1-12.
There are caveats to all this. The regular season is less than one month old. Thirteen games is a small sample size. The Wizards’ schedule will ease somewhat.
And there have been some early team-wide improvements relative to the rest of the league.
The Wizards finished last season 27th in defensive-rebounding percentage. This season, they rank 21st.
Last season, Washington finished last in opponents’ field-goal percentage within the restricted area, allowing teams to shoot 70.4 percent. This season, Washington ranks 11th, holding teams to 65.7 percent.
And here’s the most important caveat of all: The Wizards, who need to finish in the bottom four of the league standings to guarantee that they will keep their 2026 first-round pick, have been built to lose in the short term. The roster relies so heavily on youth that it’s difficult to expect anything other than a rough season.
First-, second- and even some third-year NBA players need to learn how to focus for a full 48-minute game. When a team plays so many of those youngsters simultaneously, the team as a whole is likely to make mistakes and endure lapses in intensity and in concentration. That’s what happened with last season’s Wizards, and it’s happening again this season. So it’s not unexpected and it’s not abnormal.
At the same time, however, shouldn’t the 2025-26 Wizards be at least a bit more competitive than they’ve been? Even if great intensity for an entire game is too much to ask — a debatable point — shouldn’t the effort on the defensive end be at least a bit more consistent? After all, team officials have said they want the team’s identity to be as a defense-first team.
Khris Middleton knows what it takes to win in the NBA. He has been named to three All-Star teams and was the second-leading scorer on the 2020-21 champion Milwaukee Bucks. On Saturday, following a team practice, I asked him what his young teammates are doing to ensure that the Wizards’ many losses don’t impair their development.
Middleton nodded toward the nearby practice court, where Carrington, rookie Tre Johnson and fifth-year swingman Corey Kispert were doing one-on-one drills at full speed, trying to score on teammate Anthony Gill or young coaching apprentices.
“Before and after practice, guys are working on their games and their bodies, not letting a couple of losses deter them from their end goal,” Middleton said. “It’s been hard losing some of these games that we thought we could have won, but I think guys are still coming in with a positive attitude each and every day of trying to get better.”
This is what Keefe and general manager Will Dawkins mean by seeing players develop good “habits” and by “stacking days.” If the youngsters (and older players) put in enough quality work over a long period of time, take care of their bodies and study the game, they’ll improve and those improvements will carry over to the games.
“Absolutely everybody should be doing that,” Keefe said Saturday. “But the hardest thing to do is to be consistent in this league for everybody, and the people who are elite at doing that — teams, players — are the ones who have consistent work habits in what they’re doing every day … I think those are the things that translate over time.”
But there’s a valid argument that there is a difference between individual growth and learning how to win.
This group of young Wizards players continues to lose at a high rate. Washington ended last season with the league’s second-worst record and is on track for a similar finish again.
Last season, the Wizards played in only 29 games that the NBA defines as “clutch,” which are when the score is within five points during the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime. That was the league’s second-lowest total. The Wizards played only 85 minutes that were considered “clutch” minutes, also the league’s second-fewest.
This season, the Wizards have played only four clutch games (the league’s fourth-lowest total) but have played 19 clutch minutes (the league’s ninth-lowest total). So, they are accumulating more experience in tight games.
“The guys that are in the building now that are first- and second-year players have a much greater opportunity to play a ton more minutes than I ever did my first couple of years,” Kispert said in a nuanced answer. “That’s for better or for worse, but they can come in and they can play and they can try things and they grow on the floor. And that’s a really big blessing for them, and they should absolutely take advantage of that.
“But what that does impair, I think, is that winning is a skill and learning how to win is a skill. And it’s not something that you can just flip on and off from year to year. That’s something that you have to be taught and you have to practice. Those games where we are in crunch-time situations — like Detroit, for example, a few games ago — that’s a learning opportunity for our young guys to learn how to win and what it takes to close out games. I’m really looking forward to these guys getting more opportunities to learn how to win, and I hope that us as vets can teach them that within our practices and within our games, whether it’s a word on the sideline or the way that we play or the way we try to play.”
On Sunday, the Wizards did not play anything close to winning basketball. The veteran players realized that, and that explains why they called the players-only meeting. The meeting offered an opportunity to reset.
The losing has been difficult, more so than the players have let on publicly, and that’s a good sign. After the loss in Detroit, a defeat in which the Wizards led by seven points with 1:14 remaining in the fourth quarter, Carrington told teammates in the locker room that he should have done a better job defending against Detroit’s game-tying 3 at the end of regulation. George was upset with himself for missing a key late free throw.
Those admissions were welcome signs that the youngsters haven’t grown acclimated yet to losing.
The remainder of the season will be difficult. With so much youth, and with a frontcourt that doesn’t have much size beyond Sarr, Washington almost certainly is headed toward another bottom-four finish.
The Wizards are trying to thread a difficult needle: retain their first-round pick but not allow the losses to impair their young players’ development. It’s extraordinarily difficult, and they cannot afford to deviate from their plan.
Things don’t get much worse than 12 losses in the season’s first 13 games.
“It’s tough,” George said. “You’ve got to switch your mindset and focus on the process. I think it eventually is going to affect you, but you’ve got to make sure that you keep your mindset focused on the right thing. We’ve just got to be able to go on to the next game and be able to just make sure the process is right, even though the results are not there.”
leswizards wrote:Lol. Why do you think Sarr has to defend so many shots? Because players like Kyshawn are awful defenders.